BlackBerry Music Gateway connects via NFC

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RIM has unveiled the BlackBerry Music Gateway, a second stab at allowing BlackBerry Users to stream music to another device.

This time the new device connects to BlackBerry devices via NFC before playing your music via Stereo Bluetooth. It effectively turns the phone or PlayBook into a remote control enabling wireless music to be played.

The music accessory was demoed at the BlackBerry Solutions Showcase in Orlando, the precursor to BlackBerry World. Pocket-lint was in attendance and got to see the device first hand.

Where the BlackBerry Music Gateway impressed was with its NFC connectivity. Bluetooth is old hat, but the powers of NFC are still in its infancy (at least in the UK) and seeing the Music Gateway connect to an NFC-enabled BlackBerry Bold 9900 by simply tapping the devices together appealed to our inner geek.

Music was then played over a music system hooked up via a 3.5mm jack though it is compatible with RCA leads too and can also be connected to car stereos. So long as you stay within a 30 foot radius your Bluetooth connection will remain intact.

Receive a call during your music playing and the BlackBerry Music Gateway pauses your track before resuming once you've ended the call.

Even non-BlackBerry users can get in on the act so long as their smartphone has A2DP and AVRCP profiles.

Okay so it’s not quite the show-stealing device we might have hoped for, but the BlackBerry Music Gateway’s not a bad start to RIM’s biggest few days of its calendar year.

The BlackBerry Music Gateway will be available from June 2012 for $49.99.

What do you think to the BlackBerry Music Gateway? Let us know your thoughts.